AN: Here's another installment, cause work sucks and I have nothing to do
today. Yes, we are all glad Paris booted the old coot to the curb. If only
she'd do that on the show. Seriously, the two of them creep me out. But if
we're making wishes about what happens on the show, well, the cast would
look different, wouldn't it? On to the story. . .
TO: rgilmor@yale.edu
FROM: tdugrey1@unc.edu
SUBJ: flying out
Rory,
So you think that was your prize, eh? I will take it that means you enjoyed yourself.
Just let me know as soon as you know if you're available and I'll make all the reservations. As for where you'll be staying, you are more than welcome to my room, I have a really comfortable couch I can camp out on, or I can put you up in a hotel. Your choice.
Tristan
Her heart sank a little at the thought of staying at a hotel instead of with him. Although the offer was very sweet of him, it was not what she would have expected from the Tristan she used to know. The discrepancy in her mind of what she expected him to act like and what he treated her like was odd. Discrepancy wasn't even the right word. He was simply more mature, and respectful. But though he used to be so childishly flirtatious, in the back of her mind she'd always imagined he would be different had they dated. Part of her wanted him to flirt with her shamelessly and passionately. The very gentlemanly side was nice, but she sort of wanted a little bit more of the bad boy. Maybe after they got better accustomed to each other she'd see more of an integration of the two. After all, sometimes she definitely got the hint of the shameless flirt in him. At any rate, it was time to give him her answer.
TO: tdugrey1@unc.edu
FROM: rgilmor@yale.edu
SUBJ: RE: flying out
Tristan,
I would love to come out. I am completely open that weekend. In fact, my last class for that Friday got cancelled, and I'll be done around noon. My first class the following Monday isn't until 1:30, so I could stay until that morning, too.
As for the hotel, honestly that won't be necessary. I can take your couch—I won't kick you out of your own bed.
Rory
Okay, now she just had to wait the two weeks to see him. She needed to get her mind off of Tristan, and quick. They'd had one kiss and already he was all she could think about. This wasn't good. Her thoughts turned to Paris. She hadn't answered her yet about being set up. Maybe she could plan the date for the weekend she would be in North Carolina, that way if it went sour she'd be the hell out of Dodge. 'Good thinking, Gilmore,' she smiled to herself.
Later that evening, all four girls were in the common room of the suite, watching television and a couple of them were pretending to study. Popcorn was being passed around as they awaited their pizza. At the same time, the phone rang and someone knocked at the door. This caused the four to jump a little at the unlikeliness. Janet jumped up to answer the door to collect the pizza and Rory realized the phone ringing was coming from their room and ran in there to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Oh, good, Rory, you answered."
"Hey, Mom."
"So, uh, what are you up to?"
"Oh, well, the pizza guy just got here, so just your basic study night. Why? You sound funny, are you okay?"
"Jason broke up with me."
"He what? Why?"
"It's sort of a long story. It's crazy, and ugh, I don't want to bug you, but ugh, this sucks!"
"I wish I could come home—can you come here? There's pizza and we could do a junk food run. We still have the old mattress here."
"You still have that thing?"
"Yeah, Paris shoved it in Janet's closet."
"Poor Janet."
"Yeah, well, she did it in retaliation of the early morning work out wake up call one day early on. But then Janet started using it as sort of a punching slash kicking wall for her kickboxing practice."
"You have really weird roommates," Lorelai sniffed.
"I know. So you coming?"
"Yeah. Thanks, Rory. I'll be there in a half hour."
"'Kay. Love you."
"Love you, too."
Rory walked back into the main room as Janet finished paying the pizza guy.
"Hey, Mike, could you put in another order for us? My mom's heading over, so we're going to need one with everything, extra large and an order of cheesy bread. Oh, and extra dipping sauces of all varieties. Thanks."
He nodded and left, promising to be back within the hour.
"Lorelai's coming? Fun!"
"Well, not so fun. She broke up with Jason."
"Aww, that sucks."
"Oh, Janet, can you help me take the extra mattress out for her?"
"Sure, no problem."
The two girls heaved the mattress out and put it next to Rory's bed. Rory put clean sheets on it and went back out to eat pizza and await her mother's arrival. When someone knocked at the door forty minutes later, Rory opened the door to her mother holding a bag and weighed down with pizza boxes.
"I ran into Mike outside the dorm."
"Yeah, we ordered extra reserves."
"Good thinking."
After they got Lorelai settled and everyone resumed their pizza consumption spots, Rory turned to her mother.
"So, what happened? I thought you guys were doing really well."
"Well, we were. But he came by the Dragonfly today, and we sort of got into an argument. Before I knew it, he said it was over, and he left."
"What was the argument about?"
"A bunch of things. How we never saw each other anymore, how busy I was with the Dragonfly, Luke," Lorelai dwindled off her statements so the last word was hardly audible.
"How can he be mad that you're working hard on the Dragonfly? That's your dream! Wait, did you say Luke?"
"Yeah. That was the craziest part."
"What about Luke?"
"Well, he and Luke hadn't hit if off so well, he had this uncanny knack of pissing Luke off. Jason's sort of quirky and well, yeah, anyway, the last few times he'd come by or called, I'd been at the Dragonfly and Luke had been there, helping, fixing some stuff, helping me paint or just bringing me food."
"So, what, he thought something was going on with you and Luke?"
"Yeah. Can you believe that? And he wouldn't even let me deny it, he just left."
"I'm so sorry, mom."
Rory hugged her mom, and then looked at her sort of expectantly.
"What?"
"Well, not to beat a dead horse, but are you sure there isn't something there with Luke?"
"Rory, come on."
"I'm serious. He just lent you all that money, and he's always there for you."
"Rory, he's married."
"Mom, you just got done telling me not three days ago that they don't even live together in their own house."
"Look, it doesn't matter. Luke is still married and there's nothing going on between us."
"Okay. Sorry."
The other girls had been trying not to be blatantly listening, but couldn't help it. No one else had spoken, unsure of what to say. Finally Lorelai turned to Paris.
"Hey, how are you doing?"
"Oh, I'm fine. Thanks for letting me crash at your house with Rory. It was just what I needed."
"So, it's all over?"
Rory nudged her mom in the ribs, and Lorelai noticed Janet and Tanna looking at them curiously. It suddenly dawned on Lorelai that Paris hadn't been so forthcoming with information since she'd been involved with a professor. She decided to change the subject.
"SO, Rory, what did you decide about going to visit Tristan?"
"I told him I'm coming. I emailed him earlier."
"You're going?"
"Yeah. You said you were okay as long as I was cool with it."
"OH, I am. I'm cool. I'm cooler than cool."
"Yeah, that's the vibe you're giving off. Coolness," Paris commented, laughing slightly at Lorelai's evident nervousness.
"No, no. I trust Rory. If she wants to go to North Carolina for a long weekend with a boy that looks like a Greek god, then who am I to stop her? Her own mother, that carried her nine long months and went through hours of excruciating labor—remember that while you're there, honey." She raised her eyebrows at her daughter.
"Mom-,"
"Rory, who is this boy and why haven't we met him?" Janet asked, interrupting.
"He's just this guy Paris and I went to high school with. I met up with him last weekend and he wants me to come visit him. It's nothing."
"It's not nothing. They're hot for each other," Paris explained.
The color drained from Lorelai's face.
"PARIS!" Rory exclaimed, wanting to crawl into a hole and die at this moment.
"OKAY, bedtime. At least for me. I've been up way too long, and if I hear no more about how hot my daughter is for this playboy, well, I might not have a stroke."
"Night, guys," Rory said to her suitemates, following her mom in her room.
"We're not hot for each other. I mean, we like each other, but we're not going to rip each other's clothes off the second we see each other."
"Rory, honey, I love you. Quit talking. I know you aren't going to be a virgin forever. And I'm glad you have this guy you really like. It's just—not what I needed to hear after the day I've had. We're cool. Just like I said, you know, warn me before it happens."
"I will. I promise."
With that, they went to sleep. Well, they turned the lights out anyway. Lorelai lay there, just hearing Jason's words about Luke and her over and over. Rory turned on her side and hoped the next couple of weeks would fly by.
The next morning, Lorelai thanked the girls for letting her crash by going out for fresh donuts and bringing them back for all of them. She got ready to leave, and Rory walked her out the Jeep, which had been parked out on the street.
"You going to be okay?"
"Yeah. I'm a big girl. I've been dumped before. I still like being the dumper better. The feeling of rejection really sucks."
"I know. It does suck. I love you, Mom."
"I love you too, kid. I'll call you later."
"Okay."
With a hug and a kiss, Lorelai got into the Jeep and headed home. Rory went back into the dorm, where she found Paris eating a donut and trying to shove books into her school bag at the same time. Paris looked up when Rory came walking in, and took the donut out of her mouth.
"Oh, hey, I was going to talk to you last night, but what with your mom here and all," Paris started.
"Yeah. Thanks for being cool about her crashing here."
"Yeah. It's nice that you guys are so close. It's really not normal."
"Gee, thanks, Paris."
"That came out wrong. I meant it nice, really."
"I know, I'm just, I'm tired and now I have to go to Adv. Calc," Rory sighed, taking a donut.
"Well, I was thinking about you setting me up, and I think you were right. I'll do it. Once."
"Really? Great! I'll talk to the guy and set it all up."
"Who's the guy?"
"Nope, no info. I'm not having you look up his bio on the school system and making prejudgments."
"I hate that you know me so well."
"Yeah, well, you're the one that wanted to room with me!" Rory said, smiling as she grabbed her book bag and headed out the door.
That morning Tristan had woken up and finally gotten a chance to look up flights online. He had gotten the email from Rory saying she could come and he was completely ecstatic. She wanted to come and stay with him. He found flights where she could come the earliest and leave the latest, and booked them. Now he just needed to figure out where all he was going to take her. There was a lot he wanted to show her and he only had three days. He'd waited all these years to get a chance with Rory and he really wanted to make the most of it.
TO: rgilmor@yale.edu
FROM: tdugrey1@unc.edu
SUBJ: flight arrangements
Rory,
I've enclosed the link to your flight arrangements. I'll be there to pick you up at baggage claim, seeing how I won't be able to get into the gate area. I can't wait to see you.
Tristan
TO: rgilmor@yale.edu
FROM: tdugrey1@unc.edu
SUBJ: flying out
Rory,
So you think that was your prize, eh? I will take it that means you enjoyed yourself.
Just let me know as soon as you know if you're available and I'll make all the reservations. As for where you'll be staying, you are more than welcome to my room, I have a really comfortable couch I can camp out on, or I can put you up in a hotel. Your choice.
Tristan
Her heart sank a little at the thought of staying at a hotel instead of with him. Although the offer was very sweet of him, it was not what she would have expected from the Tristan she used to know. The discrepancy in her mind of what she expected him to act like and what he treated her like was odd. Discrepancy wasn't even the right word. He was simply more mature, and respectful. But though he used to be so childishly flirtatious, in the back of her mind she'd always imagined he would be different had they dated. Part of her wanted him to flirt with her shamelessly and passionately. The very gentlemanly side was nice, but she sort of wanted a little bit more of the bad boy. Maybe after they got better accustomed to each other she'd see more of an integration of the two. After all, sometimes she definitely got the hint of the shameless flirt in him. At any rate, it was time to give him her answer.
TO: tdugrey1@unc.edu
FROM: rgilmor@yale.edu
SUBJ: RE: flying out
Tristan,
I would love to come out. I am completely open that weekend. In fact, my last class for that Friday got cancelled, and I'll be done around noon. My first class the following Monday isn't until 1:30, so I could stay until that morning, too.
As for the hotel, honestly that won't be necessary. I can take your couch—I won't kick you out of your own bed.
Rory
Okay, now she just had to wait the two weeks to see him. She needed to get her mind off of Tristan, and quick. They'd had one kiss and already he was all she could think about. This wasn't good. Her thoughts turned to Paris. She hadn't answered her yet about being set up. Maybe she could plan the date for the weekend she would be in North Carolina, that way if it went sour she'd be the hell out of Dodge. 'Good thinking, Gilmore,' she smiled to herself.
Later that evening, all four girls were in the common room of the suite, watching television and a couple of them were pretending to study. Popcorn was being passed around as they awaited their pizza. At the same time, the phone rang and someone knocked at the door. This caused the four to jump a little at the unlikeliness. Janet jumped up to answer the door to collect the pizza and Rory realized the phone ringing was coming from their room and ran in there to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Oh, good, Rory, you answered."
"Hey, Mom."
"So, uh, what are you up to?"
"Oh, well, the pizza guy just got here, so just your basic study night. Why? You sound funny, are you okay?"
"Jason broke up with me."
"He what? Why?"
"It's sort of a long story. It's crazy, and ugh, I don't want to bug you, but ugh, this sucks!"
"I wish I could come home—can you come here? There's pizza and we could do a junk food run. We still have the old mattress here."
"You still have that thing?"
"Yeah, Paris shoved it in Janet's closet."
"Poor Janet."
"Yeah, well, she did it in retaliation of the early morning work out wake up call one day early on. But then Janet started using it as sort of a punching slash kicking wall for her kickboxing practice."
"You have really weird roommates," Lorelai sniffed.
"I know. So you coming?"
"Yeah. Thanks, Rory. I'll be there in a half hour."
"'Kay. Love you."
"Love you, too."
Rory walked back into the main room as Janet finished paying the pizza guy.
"Hey, Mike, could you put in another order for us? My mom's heading over, so we're going to need one with everything, extra large and an order of cheesy bread. Oh, and extra dipping sauces of all varieties. Thanks."
He nodded and left, promising to be back within the hour.
"Lorelai's coming? Fun!"
"Well, not so fun. She broke up with Jason."
"Aww, that sucks."
"Oh, Janet, can you help me take the extra mattress out for her?"
"Sure, no problem."
The two girls heaved the mattress out and put it next to Rory's bed. Rory put clean sheets on it and went back out to eat pizza and await her mother's arrival. When someone knocked at the door forty minutes later, Rory opened the door to her mother holding a bag and weighed down with pizza boxes.
"I ran into Mike outside the dorm."
"Yeah, we ordered extra reserves."
"Good thinking."
After they got Lorelai settled and everyone resumed their pizza consumption spots, Rory turned to her mother.
"So, what happened? I thought you guys were doing really well."
"Well, we were. But he came by the Dragonfly today, and we sort of got into an argument. Before I knew it, he said it was over, and he left."
"What was the argument about?"
"A bunch of things. How we never saw each other anymore, how busy I was with the Dragonfly, Luke," Lorelai dwindled off her statements so the last word was hardly audible.
"How can he be mad that you're working hard on the Dragonfly? That's your dream! Wait, did you say Luke?"
"Yeah. That was the craziest part."
"What about Luke?"
"Well, he and Luke hadn't hit if off so well, he had this uncanny knack of pissing Luke off. Jason's sort of quirky and well, yeah, anyway, the last few times he'd come by or called, I'd been at the Dragonfly and Luke had been there, helping, fixing some stuff, helping me paint or just bringing me food."
"So, what, he thought something was going on with you and Luke?"
"Yeah. Can you believe that? And he wouldn't even let me deny it, he just left."
"I'm so sorry, mom."
Rory hugged her mom, and then looked at her sort of expectantly.
"What?"
"Well, not to beat a dead horse, but are you sure there isn't something there with Luke?"
"Rory, come on."
"I'm serious. He just lent you all that money, and he's always there for you."
"Rory, he's married."
"Mom, you just got done telling me not three days ago that they don't even live together in their own house."
"Look, it doesn't matter. Luke is still married and there's nothing going on between us."
"Okay. Sorry."
The other girls had been trying not to be blatantly listening, but couldn't help it. No one else had spoken, unsure of what to say. Finally Lorelai turned to Paris.
"Hey, how are you doing?"
"Oh, I'm fine. Thanks for letting me crash at your house with Rory. It was just what I needed."
"So, it's all over?"
Rory nudged her mom in the ribs, and Lorelai noticed Janet and Tanna looking at them curiously. It suddenly dawned on Lorelai that Paris hadn't been so forthcoming with information since she'd been involved with a professor. She decided to change the subject.
"SO, Rory, what did you decide about going to visit Tristan?"
"I told him I'm coming. I emailed him earlier."
"You're going?"
"Yeah. You said you were okay as long as I was cool with it."
"OH, I am. I'm cool. I'm cooler than cool."
"Yeah, that's the vibe you're giving off. Coolness," Paris commented, laughing slightly at Lorelai's evident nervousness.
"No, no. I trust Rory. If she wants to go to North Carolina for a long weekend with a boy that looks like a Greek god, then who am I to stop her? Her own mother, that carried her nine long months and went through hours of excruciating labor—remember that while you're there, honey." She raised her eyebrows at her daughter.
"Mom-,"
"Rory, who is this boy and why haven't we met him?" Janet asked, interrupting.
"He's just this guy Paris and I went to high school with. I met up with him last weekend and he wants me to come visit him. It's nothing."
"It's not nothing. They're hot for each other," Paris explained.
The color drained from Lorelai's face.
"PARIS!" Rory exclaimed, wanting to crawl into a hole and die at this moment.
"OKAY, bedtime. At least for me. I've been up way too long, and if I hear no more about how hot my daughter is for this playboy, well, I might not have a stroke."
"Night, guys," Rory said to her suitemates, following her mom in her room.
"We're not hot for each other. I mean, we like each other, but we're not going to rip each other's clothes off the second we see each other."
"Rory, honey, I love you. Quit talking. I know you aren't going to be a virgin forever. And I'm glad you have this guy you really like. It's just—not what I needed to hear after the day I've had. We're cool. Just like I said, you know, warn me before it happens."
"I will. I promise."
With that, they went to sleep. Well, they turned the lights out anyway. Lorelai lay there, just hearing Jason's words about Luke and her over and over. Rory turned on her side and hoped the next couple of weeks would fly by.
The next morning, Lorelai thanked the girls for letting her crash by going out for fresh donuts and bringing them back for all of them. She got ready to leave, and Rory walked her out the Jeep, which had been parked out on the street.
"You going to be okay?"
"Yeah. I'm a big girl. I've been dumped before. I still like being the dumper better. The feeling of rejection really sucks."
"I know. It does suck. I love you, Mom."
"I love you too, kid. I'll call you later."
"Okay."
With a hug and a kiss, Lorelai got into the Jeep and headed home. Rory went back into the dorm, where she found Paris eating a donut and trying to shove books into her school bag at the same time. Paris looked up when Rory came walking in, and took the donut out of her mouth.
"Oh, hey, I was going to talk to you last night, but what with your mom here and all," Paris started.
"Yeah. Thanks for being cool about her crashing here."
"Yeah. It's nice that you guys are so close. It's really not normal."
"Gee, thanks, Paris."
"That came out wrong. I meant it nice, really."
"I know, I'm just, I'm tired and now I have to go to Adv. Calc," Rory sighed, taking a donut.
"Well, I was thinking about you setting me up, and I think you were right. I'll do it. Once."
"Really? Great! I'll talk to the guy and set it all up."
"Who's the guy?"
"Nope, no info. I'm not having you look up his bio on the school system and making prejudgments."
"I hate that you know me so well."
"Yeah, well, you're the one that wanted to room with me!" Rory said, smiling as she grabbed her book bag and headed out the door.
That morning Tristan had woken up and finally gotten a chance to look up flights online. He had gotten the email from Rory saying she could come and he was completely ecstatic. She wanted to come and stay with him. He found flights where she could come the earliest and leave the latest, and booked them. Now he just needed to figure out where all he was going to take her. There was a lot he wanted to show her and he only had three days. He'd waited all these years to get a chance with Rory and he really wanted to make the most of it.
TO: rgilmor@yale.edu
FROM: tdugrey1@unc.edu
SUBJ: flight arrangements
Rory,
I've enclosed the link to your flight arrangements. I'll be there to pick you up at baggage claim, seeing how I won't be able to get into the gate area. I can't wait to see you.
Tristan